Direct-To-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) Of Prescription Drugs

Ads for pharmaceutical drugs are everywhere. They are in magazines, on television and radio, on billboards, and on the little bags that you get from the pharmacist. These days it is difficult to get away from all the drug advertising. All these ads are for products that require a doctor's prescription. The goal of advertising is to increase profits. By advertising so heavily for drugs that the majority of the population does not need, pharmaceutical companies attempt to create as large a consumer base as they can. In advertising directly to the consumer, the drug companies accomplish two objectives. First, they get information directly to the consumer. Second, they promote the product and

If you have ever watched TV in America you are aware of “direct-to consumer" (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs. These are ads provided by drug companies in the intent to educate the general public on the benefits of their product. They often feature celebrities or catchy cartoons with very healthy satisfied patients. This type of advertising of prescription drugs is unique to the United States. It was one of only two countries that allows DTC advertising. New Zealand is the only other developed nation that does. If the intent is to educate the prospective consumers about their product then why do only two countries utilize the technique (“For Consumers”)?

Annually, the US spends $300 billion dollars on pharmaceutical drugs. This is due to the over-diagnosing of certain conditions. Everyday, Americans are exposed to an enormous amount of advertisements for medications of all kinds. For example, 1 in 10 Americans are taking

Bill Maher once mocked the aggressive nature of the drug advertisements that direct you to tell your doctor that their drug is right for you. “Tell your doctor? Shouldn’t your doctor tell you what drugs you need. When you tell your doctor isn’t he just a dealer at that point,” said Bill Maher. The American public generally trusts their government to protect them from the hidden dangers prescription and over-the-counter drugs. However, that trust isn’t fully warranted as the FDA has been featured in the GAO report of “high risk” agencies which need drastic reforms. After all, the FDA is in charge of regulating the shameless drug advertisements that inundate the airwaves.

The United States and New Zealand are the only developed countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising. Whether the practice of direct to consumer advertising is beneficial to the consumers or not is a highly debated subject with both positions presenting sound reasoning for their position. Whether the practice is beneficial or not to the consumer is not the question, but rather, is advertising prescription drugs directly to consumers ethical? To analyze this question I will use Rawls’s second principle of distributive justice for analysis.

     Is a patient at liberty to diagnose his or her own affliction? If so, are they also qualified enough to know the right medication and take into consideration the drugs adverse effects? With the recent onset of direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs, this is becoming the case. In 1994, expenditures on direct to consumer advertisements were about twenty-five-million a year. By 1998 that figure changed to about 225 million (Sasich 2). Turn on the TV, there they are. Open your favorite magazine, there they are again. Listen to the radio, congratulations, you’ve found another ad for the latest prescription drug. Rush down to your local

In the January 18th 2016 issue of People Magazine, AstraZeneca ran an advertisement for Seroquel XR, an atypical antipsychotic. This advertisement was just one of seven prescription drug advertisements in the 94 page magazine, all urging readers to ask their doctors about a medication. These seven advertisements are a small sample of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisement that flood television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and websites in the United States. The debate about whether DTC advertisement for psychotropic medication provides the consumer with more information and power over their medical care and reduces stigma or whether it leads to physicians to prescribing medications before assessing other treatment options and adds to the

Televised drug ads have helped to update patients on the positives of pharmaceuticals. The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) drug ads inform people about medical conditions and the treatments that come with those conditions. As stated by this article, “44% of patients…said that DTC prescription drug ads helped educate them about drugs, medical conditions, and treatments” (“Should Prescription Drugs” 2). For most patients, they are unaware of what is inside of their medications and what the risks are. With prescription drug ads, they allow the uninformed patients to become informed by

Other research examines the influence the rise of direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) for anti-depressant drugs may have on altering negative perception of mental illness overall (Payton, A., & Thoits, P. (2011). Information from 1996 – 2006, a period of increased advertising for anti-depressant medication, shows that despite large financial investments on DTCA advertising on depression drugs, the public likelihood of recognising depression or viewing it as a serious condition did not change from 1996 to

The FDA claimed in its July/August 2004 issue that truthful DTC advertising encourages patients to talk more about health problems, removes the stigma surrounding certain diseases, and even reminds patients to take their medication when they see advertisements.

Over the last several years, pharmaceutical companies have launched a campaign style called Direct to Consumer Drug Advertising or known as DTCA. This campaign has led to a large increase of clinical examinations has led to a large increase in clinical examination and this makes the pharmaceutical companies happy and helps padding their pockets. Using this type of advertising, these drug companies allow details of a particular drug to spread to a potential patient and then most likely pushed by the doctor upon visit. These types of advertising campaigns are focused on trying to “enrich” the consumer (Relman p28). Even though this type of advertising campaign allows most drugs to be cheaper overall, consumers should be concerned about the

Right now, at this very moment, somewhere in America, there is a commercial playing, advertising a prescription drug, while a family sits around and watches it or subconsciously takes in what the commercial has to offer while they stare at the bright screens of their cellular phones. The widespread media of prescription medicines, specifically amphetamines, sedatives, and tranquilizers, allow pills like ‘Xanax’ (a tranquilizer used to treat depression), Zoloft (antidepressant), or Adderall (a medication used to treat ADHD) to become trusted, widely known, household names.

(Herzberg 106.3: 408-10). This has become the norm. People take prescription drugs; lifestyle change is far more difficult than popping a pill. Direct to consumer advertising of prescription medication undermines a physicians authority. They went to medical school and passed rigorous testing to become a physician, prescription drug advertising is an insult to physicians. A physician takes an oath, “To do no harm”. They are compromised with the current advertising conundrum, knowing that if a patient does not get the prescription they want from them, they will simply seek another doctor. Drug seekers exist, and without prescription drug advertising they would still exist. Yet the United States is creating new drug seekers by allowing prescription

There are many direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs. On television, magazines, radio etc, you see the most recent advertisements for prescription drugs. After some people see the advertisements they soon rush over to their doctor and their illness and life would be perfectly pain and stress free. Making the public conscious of options for treatment is not a bad thing. But these false advertisements are misleading consumers onto unnecessary treatment.

Think about how often you are watching your favorite show on television and all of a sudden you are interrupted by a commercial. The commercial begins with the following words, “Do you suffer with …” and this question follows with the following sentence, “if so, then talk to your doctor about … (the name of the medication that is being advertised)”. These prescription drug advertisements are being shown all over the United States multiple times a day. It is these advertisements that are used for publicity and marketing that are affecting Americans. The majority of Americans engage in watching television. The prescription drug advertisements do have a positive impact on Americans but, these advertisements do more harm than good.